Love So Deep it Hurts

There’s something that my mom said to me that at the time she said it, I took more of as something a mother says to say and annoy a child than as something that she truly meant. I was an adult already and my mom and I were hanging out and she was giving me advice about things and making sure that I was ok and I was happy. I don’t remember exactly but I believe I said something to the effect of, “Oh mom, you don’t have to worry about me so much. I’ll be ok.” She responded to me, “You’re my little boy and it’s my job to worry about you. No matter how big or how old you get you’ll always be my little boy.”

I don’t thin I held onto that very much until my mom passed and it became words of comfort for me. That even though I am an adult I still don’t know everything and she was always there for me to offer advice and to listen to what was on my heart and mind. Now as a parent those words I shrugged off are now words I hold onto as words of wisdom as I watch my two girls who are still very young but are doing their best to try to grow up too fast. That no matter how old they get that I am always their parent and they will always be my little girls and with that means that I will love them with my whole heart. And when they are adults and are married and have children of their own, if that’s what they want, then they will continue to be my little girls. No matter what.

Just like for any parent, my mom included, that means that through the joys and pains, the perfect moments and the hurt-filled times that relationship of parent means more than the times that life doesn’t go well and pushing through it knowing that one day life will be better and those hurdles will be behind them.

This once tossed aside phrase from my mom about always being her little boy now rings in my ear as I look at this poetry from Hosea. Hosea is considered one of the minor prophets in the Bible and he proclaimed God’s message in the Northern Kingdom of Israel primarily during the reign of Jereboam II and around the time when Assyria conquers them and makes them a vassal of their empire. Hosea sees that the people have once again turned their hearts from God and have begun to follow the gods of other nations. Most of the book of Hosea focuses on the disobedience and sinfulness of Israel, so it is nice to be in chapter 11 where we get to see the heart of the Hosea’s message to the people now that he has chastised them for all that they have done and all that they have neglected to do.

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This passage is probably one of the most tender and loving passages in the Bible about God’s relationship to God’s people. Especially if it we take it in light of the amount of prophecy of destruction due to their disobedient nature. We even get a glimpse of the hurt that God feels at their behavior and their worship of other gods. The imagery that Hosea uses for God is that of a loving parent for their child.

The events in the child’s life are those typically associated with a mother. It was the mother’s role to teach the children the basics of life like walking and feeding the child. We have this intimate imagery of God as the mother of the people and it is God who has been with them since birth. For those of you who have children or are around children and care for them, think about the joys that you get out of watching them and caring for them. Think of the first time they ever walked and when they made a huge mess with their very first birthday cake they ate at their birthday party. Think about the time that they said “mom or “dad” for the first time. What did it feel like to watch them open presents at Christmas and see the smiles on their faces? Think about any milestone that a child experienced that you were a part of and the profound joy it brought to you. This is what Hosea is describing to us what it is like when God is close to God’s people and how much God desires to be close to us.

What is just as beautiful to me is both this mothering imagery that we see but also the fact that Hosea uses male imagery which shows us that God as this parent seems to be paternal but has the instincts and attributes to a mother. We see this male imagery in verse 9 which is translated as mortal in the NRSV but is actually adam, which is man. And in verse 9 we see that God reminds us that God is no mortal or no man. I actually like both translations because by saying mortal God reminds us that even though we might turn our backs against someone who is disobedient or has constantly pushed away from us, God isn’t like us and God won’t do that no matter how much we might do it to others and to God. I also like the image of God declaring himself not a male because it then gives us this contrast from the flawed men we have been seeing the past few weeks. Jeroboam and Rehoboam, Ahab and others that we can see throughout the Bible who use their masculinity to push their own agendas above that of God and the people.

God says, no. I love you so deeply like a mothering parent that I will not forsake you even when Assyria comes to conquer you. I will love you even if you push me away. I will love you because I am your loving parent. I remember the time you began to walk and follow me. I remember lifting you up as an infant and holding you to my cheek. I absolutely love that verse in Hosea. A loving parent who lifts their child up and just squishes them to their cheeks. There are times when I still squish the girls cheeks because they are just too cute. It also reminds me of that stereotype of the loving aunt that comes over for Thanksgiving and Christmas and pinches your children’s cheeks until they hurt because she loves the kids so much.

That is God. God loves so deeply that it hurts. God loves so deeply that it pains God to see us make poor choices in our lives and to choose to follow other things other than God. Because God has done so much for us and yet we all choose to rebel at points in our lives.

Despite our rebellion and forgetfulness. Despite the fact that we try to tell God we’re an adult and and we’ll be fine without God checking in on us all the time; God checks in and God cares. God loves us no matter what. It doesn’t matter if we are a newborn or 101 years old . When God thinks of all that has happened God says I remember my promises and my covenants. I remember when every moment we have spent together so how can I give you up?

God’s promise for us: Never. Never will I give you up. Never will I forsake you. Never will I leave you. God’s love runs so deep that God will never turn that loving back to us. That is what Hosea wants God’s people to know. No matter the pain and hurt, the exiles and disappointments, God will love us. God’s love runs too deep for God to do anything other than that. Rest in God’s loving arms knowing that God will always hold you close and love you deeply and tenderly like a mother holding her newborn child. Amen.